By Ed Finkel |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription In the 18 months since Carrie Owen Plietz became chief operating officer at Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame, Calif., the Sutter Health system affiliate has gone live with electronic health records, progressed on a new $618 million, 241-bed replacement hospital, and enjoyed a spike in... FULL STORY »
By Joe Carlson and Melanie Evans |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription As healthcare reform falters in Congress, health spending projections released last week forecasted the nation's healthcare bill will steadily escalate in the coming decade and taxpayers will pay more of the tab. FULL STORY »
By Gregg Blesch |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription The Federal Trade Commission reached separate agreements resolving price-fixing allegations with two Colorado-based independent practice associations. FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Aetna, Hartford, Conn., said its fourth-quarter profits were 15% lower than in 2008, as the weak economy continued to hammer its results. Aetna said net income was $165.9 million in the quarter, down 14.8% from the year-ago quarter. Revenue increased 9% to $8.7 billion. For the full year, Aetna... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription National and state advocates of medical liability reforms are expressing disappointment with an Illinois Supreme Court decision overturning damage caps and other medical malpractice reforms adopted in a 2005 law. “It is critical to preserve strong medical liability reforms among the states so... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Home health provider Gentiva Health Services said it sold its respiratory therapy/home medical equipment and infusion therapy businesses to a subsidiary of Lincare Holdings, Clearwater, Fla., which provides respiratory therapy services in the home. Financial terms of the all-cash transaction were... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Hospital employment, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, grew by 0.1% to add 5,000 jobs in January to a workforce now estimated at 4.7 million. In the 12 months ended in January, the hospital workforce added 28,300 jobs or 0.6%. Physicians' offices in... FULL STORY »
By Joe Carlson and Melanie Evans |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription As healthcare reform falters in Congress, health spending projections released last week forecasted the nation's healthcare bill will steadily escalate in the coming decade and taxpayers will pay more of the tab. FULL STORY »
By Jennifer Lubell |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription President Barack Obama's budget blueprint issued last week drew cheers from healthcare leaders who wanted to see more money thrown into Medicaid, health professions and information technology. But the budget left out some provisions hospitals were specifically looking for. FULL STORY »
By Andis Robeznieks |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription While the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education board met with its resident duty-hour task force last week in Scottsdale, Ariz., a coalition of patient-safety and consumer advocacy groups joined together to push for stricter work limits for doctors in training. FULL STORY »
By Jessica Zigmond |
February 08, 2010
|
Free Access News that President Barack Obama’s budget includes a nearly $300 million increase to expand services at community health centers received mixed reviews from the public health community last week. FULL STORY »
By Shawn Rhea |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription With its recent announcement of new leadership, the Dallas-based group purchasing organization Broadlane took another step in what appears to be an ongoing effort to transform the company. FULL STORY »
By Shawn Rhea |
February 08, 2010
|
Free Access A rash of reports highlighting patient exposure to excessive radiation has radiology providers, equipment manufacturers and regulators scrambling to address safety and protocol concerns even as they acknowledge uncertainty over how best to prevent such mishaps in the future. FULL STORY »
By Matthew DoBias |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription The news that healthcare spending is expected to surge in coming years barely registered on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers continued to be at loggerheads over how to revive the now-stalled reform effort, and healthcare legislation threatened to slip further down the agenda. FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription The late Sen. Edward Kennedy and healthcare executive and educator Austin Ross have been chosen as the latest inductees into Modern Healthcare’s Health Care Hall of Fame. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposed two surveys be conducted regarding healthcare-acquired infections and the anti-microbial drugs used to fight such infections. FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription “Regardless of the outcome of the national debate about health reform, two takeaways for hospitals already are certain: Costs must be managed, and daily operations need to be redesigned to focus on higher quality and better outcomes. ... Large, integrated organizations ... are often held up... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Consumer Reports and the Leapfrog Group released quality data on central-line infections for intensive-care units at 926 hospitals in 43 states. Of participating facilities, 105 hospitals reported no central-line infections in their most-recent public reports. Still, some hospitals had twice... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefits manager, said it has acquired DNA Direct, a genomic-medicine consulting company, for an undisclosed sum. Based in San Francisco, DNA Direct offers guidance to providers, payers and employers on more than 2,000 genetic and molecular tests on the market... FULL STORY »
By Meghan Streit |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription The Commonwealth Fund, John A. Hartford Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust last month released a guide to assist healthcare leaders in reducing preventable hospital readmissions. FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Scribe. The word might conjure up images of an ancient, white-bearded man, bent over papyrus scrolls, scratching away with quill pens. And we know the profession has to be older than Methuselah. Today, however, healthcare organizations are looking to new generations of scribes to help advance the... FULL STORY »
By Ed Finkel |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription In the 18 months since Carrie Owen Plietz became chief operating officer at Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame, Calif., the Sutter Health system affiliate has gone live with electronic health records, progressed on a new $618 million, 241-bed replacement hospital, and enjoyed a spike in... FULL STORY »
By Ed Finkel |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription As William Schoenhard approached retirement after three decades as an executive with St. Louis-based SSM Health Care, his military roots came calling. FULL STORY »
By Ed Finkel |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription As a young assistant administrator at what was then Asbury Methodist Hospital in Minneapolis, Earl Dresser was responsible for undertaking demographic studies that led the hospital to decamp to suburban St. Louis Park, Minn., in 1959. FULL STORY »
By Gregg Blesch |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Several legal cases are drawing to a close for two former Los Angeles hospital owners accused of filling beds with patients recruited from the area known as Skid Row. But the matter appears far from over. FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription RALEIGH, N.C.—Rex Healthcare, Raleigh, said it will apply by Feb. 15 for a certificate of need for a $54 million project to add 60,000 square feet onto its 29-bed cancer unit and make a full-fledged cancer hospital. The 431-bed hospital, part of UNC Health Care, Chapel Hill, also will... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription TOPEKA, Kan.—Kansas hospitals employed more than 68,000 people in 2009, or about 3.8% of the state’s employment, with a total payroll of about $3.8 billion, according to an economic report released by the Kansas Hospital Association. Hospitals also generated $132 million in sales... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription BRIDGEPORT, Conn.—St. Vincent’s Medical Center began accepting patients at the new Elizabeth Pfriem SWIM Center for Cancer Care. The 125,000-square-foot building cost about $50 million and is designed to consolidate cancer prevention, diagnostic and treatment, according to a news... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription “Regardless of the outcome of the national debate about health reform, two takeaways for hospitals already are certain: Costs must be managed, and daily operations need to be redesigned to focus on higher quality and better outcomes. ... Large, integrated organizations ... are often held up... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription “The White House and congressional leadership don’t seem to have learned anything substantive from a historical (Massachusetts) electoral rebuke, and even its political lessons are badly amiss. If they thought ObamaCare was controversial before, they haven’t seen anything... FULL STORY »
By Aaron Beam |
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription In 1984, Richard Scrushy and I founded HealthSouth Corp., Birmingham, Ala., with the help of venture capitalists. Richard was a licensed respiratory therapist, and I was a certified public accountant. Our timing could not have been better because the healthcare market was ready for a major shift to... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription I n the Feb. 1 article regarding two West Texas nurses who were being prosecuted for reporting what they deemed an unethical practice by a physician, it demonstrates the continued strained relations between doctors and nurses (“Lone Star State showdown,” p. 12). FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Free Access A list of the largest hospitals in Europe ranked by total bed count. Source: Research and Markets. Published Feb. 8, 2010. FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama named Terry Kellogg as president and COO, effective immediately, and successor to Phillip Pope, 63, who will retire as the insurers’ CEO on June 30. Kellogg, 56, was previously executive vice president, a position he has held since 2002, and... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Gerold Bepler took over Feb. 1 as the new president and CEO of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. Bepler, 53, replaces John Ruckdeschel, who left last spring to become CEO and director of the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas. A thoracic oncologist, Bepler most... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Dustin Corcoran is the new CEO of the California Medical Association. Corcoran has worked for the Sacramento-based physician organization for nearly 12 years, most recently as deputy CEO. He previously led the CMA’s lobbying efforts. Corcoran, whose age was unavailable, succeeds... FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription The whole may be greater than the sum of the parts, as the saying goes, but when it comes to healthcare reform it seems a lot of voters prefer the parts—thank you very much. FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Some news reports have staying power. For example, people still talk about a report about dirty hotel bedspreads that was filed in 1996 by Chicago investigative television journalist Dave Savini. (Unfortunately—and surprisingly—Outliers couldn't find a copy on YouTube.) FULL STORY »
February 08, 2010
|
Print Magazine Subscription Imagine a hospital saying bye-bye to bleach … forever.Then imagine fewer germs, reducing the spread of dangerous bacteria. FULL STORY »
